I am encouraged by what I have read in the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force’s report, “Penetrating the Lostness: Embracing A Vision For A Great Commission Resurgence Among Southern Baptists.” While not a perfect document, it charts a course that I believe will help guide our convention of churches to recommit ourselves and realign our resources to become more intentional about fulfilling the Great Commission.
Fred StoneThere are two emphases in this report that give me hope about the future of the SBC: a focus on theology and a rechanneling of Cooperative Program funds to international missions and church planting. I will explain the first emphasis in this article and the second in the next issue of the Courier.
First, I am encouraged by the clear focus on theology found in the report. Southern Baptists have a strong, conservative theological heritage. The Southern Baptist Convention was founded upon a common theology and commitment to missions.
Over time, however, our commitment to a common theology faded as we became more focused on a common methodology. A commitment to the Cooperative Program became the common focus and unifying factor in the Southern Baptist Convention While the Cooperative Program proved to be a gift from God to effectively and efficiently finance our denominational mission and ministry efforts, it was not sufficient to prevent theological division. As our convention grew and moved forward in unity of methodology, the influence of theological liberalism was left unchallenged for many years. This resulted in a clearly defined liberal shift in our convention’s agencies and institutions. A Conservative Resurgence was needed to stop this leftward movement of our convention and return it to its theologically conservative foundation.
While the GCR Task Force has called us to reevaluate the structures and strategies (methods) of our convention, they have also wisely called us to remain focused on the biblical basis for what we do.
They have done an excellent job of keeping the theological foundation of missions before us. The report states that a “Great Commission Resurgence grows directly out of a Great Commission theology.” It emphasizes that “the foundation for a Great Commission Resurgence is the truth of the Gospel.”
There is a call for us to “recommit ourselves to sharing, proclaiming, and teaching the gospel, as well as ministering and living in the power of the Gospel.”
This focus on theology also calls us “to affirm the primacy and centrality of the local church in the life of the Southern Baptist Convention” because “the New Testament identifies the church as the central instrument of the kingdom of God.”
I think we need an occasional reminder that the kingdom of God will continue to advance with or without any Baptist convention. The organization that matters most in the Kingdom of God is the church, not a convention. We must not forget that our conventions are basically our churches voluntarily joining together in a cooperative effort to plan and carry out the ministry of the church beyond the geographical, financial, and human resource abilities of our individual local churches.
Therefore, the decision for what ministries our convention will be involved in, and what institutions and convention agencies are needed to effectively do it, rests solely upon what our churches’ messengers decide when they come together in convention session.
The GCR report states this well: “All of our Baptist work beyond the local church must exist solely to serve the local church in this mission. This is true for every Baptist association, state convention, and the Southern Baptist Convention. None of these exists for itself – all exist for the churches.” I believe the GCR Task Force report and recommendations provide the necessary theological foundation and biblical challenge to motivate Southern Baptists to refocus our efforts on fulfilling the Great Commission with greater conviction and urgency.
Also, as I will point out in the next issue of the Courier, I believe this report charts a needed course of change that will guide our convention of churches to enthusiastically direct more of our resources to the greatest areas of lostness both in North America and around the world.
– Stone is pastor of Pickens First Baptist Church and president of the South Carolina Baptist Convention.